News

Changes to the Parents/Grand-Parent Sponsorship Program

Published: Aug 31, 2018

Changes to the Parents/Grand-Parent Sponsorship Program

On August 20, 2018 the government announced that it would increase the number of parent/grand-parent sponsorship applications to 20,000 for 2017 and 2018. The process by which sponsorships are to be accepted has changed. As of 2019, adult Canadians or Canadian permanent resident sponsors will electronically submit an "Interest to Sponsor" form to Immigration. This process will be open at some undisclosed time at the beginning of 2019. Unlike 2017 and 2018, however, the Interest to Sponsor will not be put in a pool. Instead, sponsorships will be handed out to those adult sponsors who are the first to file their Interest to Sponsor forms.

Therefore, anyone who wants to sponsor their parent or grand-parent should keep an eye on Immigration's website to alert themselves as to when the program is to re-open. We expect that a lot of sponsors will be pulling all-nighters as they sit in front of their computers, pressing the "refresh" key hoping they are one of the first 20,000 people to file an Interest to Sponsor the minute the program re-opens.

We believe at Eisenberg & Young LLP that it is still possible to successfully apply for citizenship, temporary worker and permanent resident status in Canada despite these changes. We strongly recommend, given the complexity of the present and ever-changing immigration system, that you do not apply without first obtaining professional help with the application.